Large-scale testing of shape memory alloy based damper performance using real-time hybrid simulation: verification and challenges

Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 129, pp. 116572

Abstract

Due to their energy dissipation capabilities in combination with the ability to recover from large strain deformations, shape memory alloys (SMAs) are increasingly used in vibration control devices in civil engineering. SMA wire dampers (SMAWDs) are a promising implementation in structures. To eliminate uncertainties due to scaling effects and damper-structure interactions, large-scale experimental dynamic testing is necessary to verify the damping capacities of SMAWDs in realistic structures. To address these challenges, we perform real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) testing of two large-scale SMAWDs in this study. RTHS enables a resource efficient solution, where only the SMAWDs are needed as an experimental test setup. The dampers are tested in both two- and three-dimensional large-scale industrial-like steel structures as the numerical substructure in multiple combinations of wire number and damper position. The structures are loaded with different earthquake excitations to investigate and verify the vibration control performance and reusability of the SMAWDs in civil engineering in different damper configurations as well as the scalability of SMA wires based dampers. Numerical challenges of the combination of SMA and RTHS related to nonlinearity, coupling effects, and system stability are discussed.

Authors 2

1. Florian Kolisch corresponding Aachen Chair of Structural Analysis and Dynamics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Structural Analysis and Dynamics, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, Aachen, 52074, Germany

2. Sven Klinkel Aachen Chair of Structural Analysis and Dynamics

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Structural Analysis and Dynamics, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, Aachen, 52074, Germany